Motorola Atrix 2 review

Motorola includes the basic Google Maps app, but also adds the AT&T Navigator app in the US, which offers voice turn-by-turn directions. Knowing that people will use the Motorola Atrix 2 as a primary GPS device in their cars, there's also a windshield mount designed just for the Motorola Atrix 2 (sold separately).

The AT&T Navigator app is a third-party OEM app from TeleNav that has been rebranded. In an age of voice-activated GPS in modern cars, like the one included with a VW Passat, the Maps and Navigator apps are starting to reveal problems - they're a bit hard to use and don't work well with the rest of the phone.

For example, when you receive an email with an address, you can't just click the address to get turn-by-turn directions.

The GPS worked quickly in an outdoor setting, but faltered indoors and in a car. Like most Android phones, you can enable Google Latitude to tell your friends and family your current location at all times, or turn the feature off when you want to be anonymous.

Motorola relies on the stock Android Market app for buying and installing apps. That's a good thing, because first-party app stores such as Samsung Apps tend to just add clutter to the phone when most people will either use the Android Market or install an alternate such as the Amazon Store.

Motorola only includes a small handful of extra apps such as the Let's Golf game, an app for scanning QR codes, the Music and Movies apps from AT&T and QuickOffice.

The only highlight here is QuickOffice, which enables you to view Microsoft Office files and PDFs. The app offers full document editing for Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Only a handful of the apps also include a related widget - for example, the generic Music app offers a widget that runs on a home screen but only enables you to play, pause and change tracks.